Dangerous combatzone

TDT | agencies

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Israeli military brands Gaza City dangerous ahead of a looming offensive

“ A dangerous combat zone” Palestinian territory’s largest city, according to the Israeli military, has become just that after almost two years of devastating war.

Now, they are on the verge of a new offensive to capture Gaza City, ignoring mounting pressure at home and abroad to end the fighting.

This comes in a place already hit by famine, according to the United Nations, and where the vast majority of the population has been displaced at least once.

However, the Israeli military made clear yesterday that it is gearing up to expand operations and seize Gaza City, with its Arabic-language spokesman saying on Friday: “We are not waiting.”

“We have begun preliminary operations and the initial stages of the attack on Gaza City, and we are currently operating with great force on the outskirts of the city,” Avichay Adraee wrote on X.

The UN estimates that nearly a million people currently live in Gaza governorate, which includes Gaza City and its surrounding areas in the north of the territory.

An army statement on Friday said that, going forward, Gaza City “constitutes a dangerous combat zone”, and daily pauses in military activity aimed at facilitating aid distribution will no longer apply there.

The military did not call for the population to leave immediately, but Adraee said earlier this week that the city’s evacuation was “inevitable”.